BEAUTY

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"  

These orchids are gorgeous.  In the proper setting they are simply breathtaking.  We see their beauty, we breathe in their magnificent fragrance.  I love flowers, I love nature in all it's beauty.  I look around at all of this world and I stand in awe of the one who created it.  His glory shines in every aspect of nature.  Everywhere I look I see His handy work.  This orchid is just one of the trillions of natural things He created.  

God's glory is everywhere I look.  When I look in my children and grandchildren's eyes....I see His glory.  When I look at the stars in the sky....I see His glory.  When I look at the flowers in the meadow....I see His glory.  When I look into the eyes of my dear friend who just lost her sister....I see His glory.   When I look at the homeless man on the street corner....I see His glory.

What we see and how we see things will propel us either into the very presence of God or not.  The choice is ours to make but I know for me personally, I choose to seek His presence wherever I am.  I do not have to be in church to be in His presence.  So today please join me in basking in the very presence of God.   

THIS JOURNEY CALLED LIFE

 

Life is a journey that takes us on a path that leads to places we never dreamed or imagined.  For some the journey is a fairly smooth straight road with a few hills and valleys, maybe a few twists and turns, yet for others the road is filled with pot holes and winding roads.  Sometimes our roads may intersect each other, many times not.  When I think about my life's journey being a road it makes me recall all the literal roads I've been on.  

I have been on many roads.  As a child I traveled with my family out west, to Florida, to Canada and up in northern Michigan many times.  The thing I remember about traveling with my dad is that we need a plan, a destination.  Then we need a map to guide us down the right roads to get where we want to end up.  Now days we have GPS but back then we had the paper road maps.  I learned a lot while traveling down these roads.  One thing I remember is that there are no 2 roads that are alike.

Country roads with pot holes, mountainous roads with steep cliffs and lots of sharp curves, city roads with numerous stop lights and traffic congestion.  There are the roads in the plain states that are straight and go on forever without even a gas station.  There are so very many different types of roads, so many different paths we can take, but one thing remains true no matter what road we are on, without a map, without a GPS we will end up lost and overwhelmed.

If my life was a road it would be a variety of these different types but I am grateful I always had the proper GPS system guiding me...Jesus Christ.  He is my GPS guidance system.  His Word is my map.  Without either of these my life would be total chaos and I would be lost.  I honestly don't know where I'd be without Jesus.  He is my best friend, my confidant, my comforter, my hope.  My Heavenly Daddy also corrects me when I get off the right road.  He reroutes me back onto the path He has for me.  I trust Him with my life.  

So as you travel down your roads I pray you have the proper guidance system in place because a long and winding road is no where to be without it.  

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

 

This time of year there is a real struggle going on on my front porch light.  A robin and I are fighting because he is trying to build a nest on my front porch light which is right by my front door.  Not a very smart place for him to do this, at least in my eyes.  Now let me say this, I love robins, I love birds and nature.  the puzzling thing about this is we have a small forest of trees behind our house.  Why not build a nest in a tree?  So here I sit arguing with a robin.  I think I have finally got through to him after almost 4 weeks of arguing, but the struggle is real.

This struggle may seem meaningless to you and I, but I'm sure the robin sees things differently. We all have struggles and deal with issues that propel us into a state of confusion and frustration, doubt and fear.  If we are being honest with ourselves we have all been there at one time or another.  Maybe you're going through some struggles right now?  Struggles can come in many areas of our life, personal issues, financial, spiritual, health, work, family or just life in general can be a struggle.   Sometimes it feels like we're struggling in many areas of our life all at once.  

Struggles are real, they're not made up and they are something we learn to live with, learn from and move on.  The thing is if we don't learn from these struggles and move on, they become a stronghold that can drain us and tie us down into a bottomless pit of despair.   This pit is life draining and leads us into one giant pity party that can last for, what seems like, an eternity.  Listen I'm not just writing this for you, I've been there many times over the course of my life.  It can be very hard to get out of this struggle but the amazing thing about the struggles I have had is that I learned a lot about myself and most of all I have learned a lot about my Abba, my heavenly Daddy, my God. 

 I do not believe that God causes these struggles, our own selfishness, our own pride, our own sinful nature causes these struggles.  God may allow these struggles to happen to shape us and mod us into His image.  He may use these struggles to grow us and help us learn.  My Abba is faithful.  My heavenly Daddy loves me.  My God is powerful.  But like my earthly dad, God allows me to make mistakes but I also have to deal with the consequences of my actions which usually causes the struggle.

There is an enemy out there who want us to blame God for everything bad that happens in our lives.  He wants us to struggle our whole life and live in a pit of despair.  He also wants us to blame other people for the struggles we're going through.  He wants us to be filed with anger and resentment and envy.  He wants us to be prideful and selfish.  But my Abba, my heavenly Daddy, my God knows the truth and He will always point me in the right direction if I shut up long enough for Him to get through to me.  

Ephesians 6:12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against authorities, against powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When I give up the struggle and stop fighting, stop blaming and learn from the struggle I was in, my heavenly Daddy gives me a peace that surpasses all understanding.  He helps me learn from the struggle and move on.  He can do that for you also.  

RENEWAL

 

Lost in a sea of despair, our life can easily spiral down into a bottomless pit.  As I think about my life there have been many times when I could have easily allowed my problems to overwhelm me until I was in a bottomless pit.  The thing is with me, I am determined to do my best to not allow my life to spiral down.  I do my best to control my thoughts and my words.  It's not easy, it actually takes a lot of work.  It's not for the faint of heart and it will definitely humble you.  Let me explain...

You see I have learned the hard way that I can control my thoughts and my words.  Through trial and error I decided long ago to allow God to renew my mind.  It sounds easier than it is.  By allowing God to renew my mind, I had to allow Him access to my heart.  That's scary because once God starts to deal with my heart issues, I had to face the truth about myself and my past.  I had to let go!  That is not easy.  For many of us the past has become our identity.  For example people will say, "I was a victim",  "I have a disease", "I am deeply in debt", and so on and so on.  I'm sure you could add to the list.  Maybe you've heard others talking this way or possibly you talk this way.  

You may be saying, I cannot allow God into my heart.  I have too many issues that I want to keep buried.  Well if I can be honest with you, you're not keeping them buried, they've buried you behind a wall of depression and/or anger.  Many have said that they cannot control their thoughts.  That is an accurate statement because I cannot control my thoughts, but God can.  

By allowing Him and His Word into my heart thus renewing my mind, He has changed my thoughts.  Instead of being a victim, I am victorious.  Instead of being sick, I am healed.  God has changed me from the inside out.  At the time it was painful to face the truth about myself.  It's much easier to blame others or to blame God Himself.  But once I looked in the mirror and was honest with myself, my thoughts and my heart changed.  Try it today.  Allow God in, the reward is so awesome.      

LIFE OR DEATH?

    

I want to chase after the sun as it slowly sets, I want to relive sunsets and embrace the simple beauty of them.  The thing about sunsets is that they are beautiful when there isn't a cloud in the sky, but throw in some clouds on the horizon and the beautiful sunsets become spectacular.

Life is a lot like sunsets, when everything is going great and there are no challenges or storms in the distance, life is beautiful.  BUT...add in a few storm clouds and WOW, what was once beautiful becomes something spectacular to behold.

As I think back over my life some of the sweetest memories were also the most challenging and hectic moments.  The storms in my life created some of the most spectacular views.   I think about marriages, births, deaths, sickness, financial struggles and so on, these clouds on the horizon of my life caused me to embrace the moment and look for the silver lining behind the cloud, the sunset moment when all was right with the world again.  

It's so easy to get wrapped up in the negativity of what's going on around us.  When all we focus on is the storm clouds and the impending doom, we will miss the stunning sunset or the rainbow that comes after the storm passes.  When all we see is what is lost, we forget about what's right in front of us.  Listen, life is hard and sometimes it down right stinks, but it's only when we go through those tough times that we can actually appreciate the sunset.  If life was always easy and the sun always shined, drought would hit.  Clouds bring rain and relief on a hot, sunshiny day.

When I was out in Arizona this year, the weather was perfect.  Sunshine every day!  Not a cloud in the sky!  The bad part about this is that there has not been rain in that part of Arizona for a year.  The desert is the worst I have seen it in years, even cactus's are dying, the wild horses I love have to be fed or they'll starve to death.  So tell me isn't okay to have a little rain sometime?  A few clouds in the sky?  Even a spring time storm can bring a healing rain down.  

Clouds...storms...rain...makes life a little more exciting and challenging. But through those times in my life when there has been death and despair, God has shown up bigger than I ever dreamed possible.  The sunset moments of my life have been a true blessing.  Recently I was able to be by my uncle's side as he passed away from this life into eternity with Jesus.  It was such an amazing blessing.  The way we choose the think about storms and clouds and rain in our lives will affect the outcome.  Choose life!  Choose spectacular sunsets with some clouds 

Deuteronomy 30:19  This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

GRACE

 

Yes, I know it's been way tooooooo long since I've written in this blog.  It feels  sort of strange to be honest with you.  I honestly thought I was done writing here until God grabbed me yesterday and said, "I'm not finished writing through you yet.  Get busy!"  So here I am again.  I hope you like this.

Grace....God's unmerited favor given to us freely when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  This word has been on my heart a lot lately.  With all the insanity going on in the world around us we really need to understand grace better.  I'm not just talking about us receiving God's grace but also giving grace to others, even others who may not deserve it.  

Trust me it's easier to receive grace than it is to give it.  Think about it right now in today's crazy world.  Wouldn't it be great to live in a state of grace?  Giving others unmerited favor?  Whether your republican or democrat?  Whether you believe in wearing masks or not?  Whether you get vaccinated or not? These things shouldn't make us angry or upset.  We shouldn't argue about these things.  We need to give each other grace.  After all God gives us the grace we don't deserve, shouldn't we be sharing more grace and less of our opinions?

Anger and rage is running wild in this country and in this world.  This world is so divided it's crazy.  If you watch any news program, it's filled with negativity.  That is why I won't watch the news and I don't read the newspaper.  It makes me angry and sad.  Instead I focus on the good news...God's grace.  I don't deserve it, I didn't do anything to earn it and His grace gives me a peace that surpasses all understanding.  His grace, His unmerited favor reassures me that no matter what is happening in the world around me, God has me in the palm of His hands and to be honest, there is no better place for me to be.

The thing about grace that i am learning is that although I love to receive God's grace, it's also important for me to share His grace with others.  I'm not going to share it by preaching it to others, but by showing it and by living it out and giving it out.  Giving God's grace to others is so rewarding and gives me such a peace that is hard to explain but I'll do my best.  

God's grace is like an invisible coat that covers me and protects me from the lies of the enemy.  It's like a warm blanket on a cold, winter's night.  It's forgiveness and mercy and peace and joy and harmony all wrapped up together.  It's and unbelievable feeling to offer grace to others instead of our opinions and it's so much more rewarding.